For me, being "entirely ready" consists of several different things. First off, obviously, is awareness of what my character defects are......and if I've done Steps 4 and 5 well, I should be good-to-go there. Secondly, there is the "willingness" thing: Do I sincerely want to give up the character defects? This might seem like a no-brainer, but the truth is that some of my character defects I've gotten a lot of mileage out of and some have been important coping skills that allowed me to get along or protected me in dysfunctional situations, so I need to pay attention to subtle ways in which I might not really want to let them go or even be afraid of not having them any more.....and when I come across things like that, then, for me, what I do is basically "pray for the willingness to be willing" and for me this takes the form of just, in prayer and meditation, putting the problem out there for HP until a shift in my thinking/awareness happens.
The 3rd thing, I think has to do with me doing my part however small and/or ineffective and/or unimportant and/or boring it may seem to me and trusting that HP will do His/Her/Its part according to His/Her/Its plan and in His/Her/Its time.
See the thing is for me, I really like to confuse what's HP's part and what's my part, because, after all, HP's part is so much more impressive and glamorous. So, I tend to try to take over doing HP's part -- the planning and the choosing and the miracle working, and I tend to just kinda hope that HP will go along with this BS and do my part -- the washing the dishes, and holding my tongue in a tempting situation, or the just noticing that I'm doing an old behavior that I supposedly don't want to do any more.
But the truth is that HP won't/can't do anything for me, if I'm not doing my part....so part of my readiness is in doing the little "next right things" and in praying and meditating and in just continuing my Step work and in "practicing these principles in all my affairs"...and , it seems to me like, when I do that part, then I all of a sudden I notice that character defects are being removed in HP's time and in HP's way much more effectively than when I am plotting and planning and trying to force things instead of just doing my part.
...and always, always I need to be patient (HA! and impatience is one of my biggest character defects!) and constantly remind myself that Steps 6 and 7 are not about HP giving me a list of things I need to do in order to remove my character defects -- they are about me trusting HP to and letting HP do it for me: HP will do for me what I cannot do for myself...but only if I let Him/Her/It.
freya